Mother’s horror at maggots in baby food

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Published:06:58Updated:13:54Wednesday 07 December 2016

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A young mum has spoken of her disgust and shock at finding maggots in porridge she was giving her baby son.

Erin Jones (17), from Penicuik, was feeding her nine- month-old son Finley a jar of Cow and Gate porridge last week when she discovered live and dead maggots.

The company is now investigating the baby food she purchased from the Tesco supermarket on Edinburgh Road in Penciuik.

She said: “I’m actually disgusted, because I have given him this since he was four months old. I’m even more disgusted that I was just about to put it down his throat.

“I cut the packet open and started to pour the contents in when I spotted a small brown thing wriggling about so I took it out and placed it on the kitchen bunker to find it was a maggot!

“I then poured some more of the porridge into the bowl to see if there was any more and there was loads of maggots. Some alive and some dead.

“It’s just as well I saw the one at first. I put the maggots in one bowl and wrapped it up in cling-film.

“I then got dressed as quick as I could and took the bowl and the box the porridge came in down to my local Tesco’s in Penicuik where I purchased it.

“I spoke to the manager and all I got was a ‘sorry’ and a £2 refund.”

Following her experience, Erin wants parents to be cautious when feeding their child the baby food.

She said: “I just want to make people aware.

“It’s not really Tesco’s fault as it’s not their brand. But to only get a refund and a quick sorry, it’s not enough.

“I want to make people aware that if they are buying it to be extra careful.

“Personally, I will never buy it again.”

Erin said she contacted Cow and Gate and it “begged” her not to speak to the press.

“But people need to know about this,” she said. “They are obviously doing nothing about it as I have now discovered there has been past incidents similar to this and it’s still going on.”

A Cow and Gate spokesman said: “We were concerned to hear about Ms Jones’ experience. The quality of our products is our first priority and we always investigate every complaint thoroughly.

“Based on our initial investigations we do not believe that the experience Ms Jones alleges originated in our factory.

“Our baby foods are produced in a highly controlled and hygienic environment. They are also heat treated and packed in a low-oxygen environment which does not sustain life. We have checked with our factory and our quality controls tests were operating correctly at the time this packet was produced and we have not received any similar complaints about this batch.

“Once we have concluded our investigations we will be in touch with Ms Jones to report on our findings.”